Tears of a Goddess
by TheHarlequin9508
Summary: Elizabeth laments the death of Meliodas.


I could barely see through the haze clouding my eyes, distorting the crumpled man that lie motionless in my arms. His once fluffy golden hair now lay flat against his head from the sweat and dried blood.

Dirt caked his body, and I couldn't tear my unseeing eyes from the dark, glimmering offenders protruding from him. I registered that someone, somewhere, was screaming. A terrible, heart wrenching scream that made your insides quake and your soul burn. It wasn't until my throat began to sting and my body began to shudder under the abuse, that I realized that the screaming was me; that the haze was the unrelenting barrage of tears that ran from my eyes to soak his body amongst the blood.

My mouth would move, but no words could form. They stuck inside my dry throat like moth to a spiders' web. Each attempt at freedom resulting in another desperately strangled failure.

"Me-meli…"

A croak of a sound. One that crumbled my soul and sent me into another heaving fit of sobs. Holding him tightly to me I could feel the blood clotting against my arms; the unnaturally hard lumps just beneath the skin on his back dug into my legs, and made me squirm. Feeling the sharp points of the swords beneath his tunic made bile rise into my throat, and my head swim dangerously. His screams of agony rang through my mind and I recalled watching in horror as each one of those blades was slipped into his skin, perfectly puncturing each heart through its core. His body writhing in pain, his eyes light dimming by the moment. I had watched in utter horror through the little ball as the love of my life was downed, pinned, and defeated. All the naïve hope I held onto while looking for his body was now gone. Meliodas was gone.

Hiccupping through the tears I shifted him to the ground, and with growing anger, glared at the perpetrators. Their hilts shined with a dark and malicious satisfaction, one that I could bear mockery from no longer. I lifted myself up to loom over his body, taking the visage full force and trying to stay focused. Grasping the handle, one by one my shaking hands lifted the spears from his torso. Thick blood oozed from the newly opened wounds, and I crushed my eyes closed against the sight.

Slowly and carefully sliding the swords from his flesh I threw them away mercilessly, as if casting them from sight would somehow bring this nightmare to an end. Through bleary and swollen eyes, I could make out bits and pieces of Ban scattered around us, the chunks starting to steam and shuffle towards one another. Directing my gaze back to Meliodas' beaten body I felt overwhelming warmth spreading though me. Warmth so strong it made my nerves buzz and fingertips tingle.

"You can't leave me… Sir Meliodas. I wont let you leave me yet."

I could feel Ban approach me as the glow enveloped Sir Meliodas and I, the pale green hue washing us both in the warmth from inside me. One by one I focused with all my might on the incisions where I knew his hearts to be. Careful, meticulous time spent on each one in hopes that by sheer will alone, just one would start beating again. My lips pursed and my eyebrows knit together in concentration, the druid womans' words and their meaning ringing in my ears and in my heart. _If you can't even do this, you'll never be able to defend yourself in battle. If you can't even do this, you'll never be able to protect Meliodas. If you can't even do this… you'll never be able to bring him back._

With the last wound healed, I focused my efforts on his mind. Raising my hands to rest on his dirt-smudged cheeks I urged all the power in my being to him. Pushing my very heart and soul through my hands in a desperate plea he might look upon me once more with those gentle emerald eyes. The pale green light grew vibrant as my jaw set and eyes clamped shut. I pressed harder, spots forming behind my eyelids and fatigue seeping into my arms. I couldn't give up, I refused!

_Please Sir Meliodas, you have to try. Try for the Boar Hat and the Seven. Try for Liones and the innocent people who will perish at the hands of the demon race. Try… for me._

The tears came back full force but I refused to let them get in my way. Ban was at my side now, tracks running down his face from tears of his own now dried. His hand coming to rest on my shoulder spoke louder than any words ever could and a sob ripped from my throat. It was time to stop. But I couldn't stop. I could never stop trying to save him, my savior, my friend, my love. I wouldn't.

"Elizabeth… you gotta stop. You're going to kill yourself and where would that leave us?" the fox sin murmured. His tone was solemn but resolute. He didn't want to stop either, but they had already lost so much today. The hand on my shoulder came to rest on my arm, gently pulling it and myself away from Meliodas. The vivid light dispersed and I could feel the convulsing sobs coming again as Ban pulled me into his chest and enveloped me. He held me as I cried for my fallen love and I curled into him knowing he above all knew this feeling. The sinking, desperate feeling of losing the one you love, right before your eyes, and being powerless to stop it.

My hand slipped from Bans cocoon to Meliodas', weaving my fingers with his and gripping it tightly. The feeling of absolute defeat washed over me in place of the crying as I stared at his unmoving hand, fingernails caked with remnants of the battle. A cold emptiness overtook my body like a blanket of numb. My heart was a deep hole, leaving nothing inside me except the empty spaces. I feel like I stared for hours, not even registering that Ban had let me go until he stood, stretching like a large cat after a long nap. His Ruby eyes set upon me and I looked up to him. I knew he could see it. I wasn't going anywhere.

"Don't make me drag you. Captain would not have wanted you to sit here defeated over his corpse until you die of exhaustion." He quipped, though the usual bite in his words was absent.

I just stared blankly at him for a moment before turning back to Meliodas' hand. I heard the exasperated sigh as he came to crouch by me again, though this time his hand lay over top of his captain and I's intertwined fingers. I hadn't realized he too was shaking. I stared at his large sinewy hand on top of mine and felt his pain radiating through the skin. This man had just lost his best friend; for a long time his only friend, and here he was consoling me, urging me to be strong. Oh Ban…

"I can't believe that not so long ago, I had wished for this." he murmured, "I wanted him dead so badly, and now all I can do is wish for him to be alive again…. keh, I guess I really do live up to my name…"

I looked to him now, fresh tears in my eyes, but now they were for him, and for the shame this former bandit had just beset upon me. How could I have been so selfish? To believe even for a second, that I was the only one who lost something today. Ban, Merlin, Escanor, Diane, King, Hawk, Gilthunder, maybe even Gowther, all lost someone they cared dearly for today too, and I am sitting here feeling weak and sorry for myself. Ban is right, Sir Meliodas would never have wanted me to feel this way. He would have wanted me to fight, to go on, and to never stop believing in myself. And if I can't bring him back, then I can at least be who he always thought I was.

"Ban…I'm so sorry… and thank you." the words fell from my lips is a rush, sounding like a stranger after all my crying. I didn't know what else to say, but as savage eyes flicked up to mine, and he gave me his sideways smirk, I knew he understood. I tried my best at a smile for him, but I know it only came out as lips pressed in a thin line between rivers of tear tracks.

And then it went slack. And Bans eyes widened. And his breath hitched. And my heart stopped.

A twitch.

Ice and fire eyes slowly slid from their locked gaze to rest on compiled hands. With an audible gulp, Ban lifted his hand from mine, peering what lie beneath. I gasped in time with him as I felt it. Saw it. Meliodas' hand was gripping my own.


End file.
